What to Watch This Weekend: Fringe's Series Finale, Saturday Night Live, and Hawaii Five-0

By Andy Daglas

Jan 18, 2013

What to watch on Friday, January 18...

SERIES FINALE, 9pm, FoxFringe
The final battle between the team and the Observers looms, and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, as Fringe wraps up its five-season run with the two-part finale, “Liberty” and “An Enemy of Fate.” Also watch out for an unprecedented retcon revealing that Windmark was actually Gossip Girl all along.

9pm, The CWNikita
In “Intersection,” Nikita learns the identity of Amanda’s mole from Birkhoff, who takes drastic countermeasures to out-mole the mole. Not, like, “marathoning 24 for pointers” drastic, but pretty severe nonetheless.

10pm, CinemaxBanshee
Hanson swipes some off-brand Ecstasy from Proctor and throws a rave in an Amish barn, so he’s already having a more kick-ass Friday night than you are. Lucas finds out and plans to raid the shindig, although maybe he just wants to spin a house remix of Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise.”

10pm, IFCPortlandia
A child-friendly band, a comedy night at the feminist bookstore, and a PSA from the Portland Nerd Council are all on the agenda for “Squiggleman.” Incidentally, when I Googled “Squiggleman” to see if that title had any context, the results asked me if I meant “squigglemum.” I was too chicken to click any further than that.

WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING ON FRIDAY?

What to watch on Saturday, January 19...

10:30am, Cartoon NetworkYoung Justice
Robin investigates a worrisome alliance between Lexcorp and the Reach in “True Colors.” The Boy Wonder is probably right to be suspicious, but still, the fact that the xenophobic Lex may be learning to play nice with aliens counts as progress, right? Baby steps, Lex.

SERIES PREMIERE, 9pm, BBC AmericaRipper Street
In 1889 London, six months after Jack the Ripper’s infamous spree, a new set of grisly crimes is plaguing his old East End stomping grounds. A team of investigators is on the trail in this eight-part miniseries, which kicks off with a suspiciously Ripperesque murder in “I Need Light.”

11:30pm, NBCSaturday Night Live
Fresh off her Golden Globes win, Jennifer Lawrence hosts... and presumably grimaces her way through a perfunctory Hunger Games parody within the first half-hour. The Lumineers are the musical guest.

WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING ON SATURDAY?

What to watch on Sunday, January 20...

8pm, ABCOnce Upon A Time
An injured stranger may die if Dr. Whale doesn’t operate, but since said injured stranger has the inside dope on Storybrooke’s true nature, some of the townsfolk are just hunky dory with him departing the mortal coil. Elsewhere in “In the Name of the Brother,” Cora seeks to reunite with Regina, and Victor tries to prove to his father that he can raise the dead.

SEASON 3 FINALE, 8pm, Disney ChannelGood Luck Charlie
Teddy finds herself at a relationship crossroads when Spencer contemplates entering college early as “All Fall Down” winds up the third season. Meanwhile, Amy joins the mom-blogosphere, and Bob inadvertently invites some unwelcome guests into the house.

9pm, PBSDownton Abbey
Edith pens a letter to a newspaper in support of women’s suffrage, then quietly thanks her lucky stars that she lives eight decades before the advent of comments sections. And Tom becomes a wanted man in Ireland, prompting him, Sybil, and the bun in Sybil’s oven to seek sanctuary at Downton.

9pm, HBOGirls
Adam sets his angst to music, Sandy (Donald Glover) shares some harsh critiques of Hannah’s writing, and Elijah and Marnie struggle to move past their quasi-hook-up in “I Get Ideas.” HBO’s plot summary also says that “Shoshanna and Ray make magic,” which I choose to interpret literally, if only because I’m highly amused at the idea of Shoshanna freaking out at the woman-sawed-in-half trick.

SPECIAL NIGHT, 10pm, CBSHawaii Five-0
The Five-0 team slides into CBS’s coveted post-AFC Championship slot with “Olelo Ho’opa’i Make (Death Sentence).” When Chin is mysteriously kidnapped and deposited in a prison gussied up like an inmate, he has to escape without the other prisoners learning he’s an officer of the law.

10pm, ABCShark Tank
Did you enjoy having bonus episodes of Happy Endings and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 here, just hanging around in a nonsensical Sunday-night timeslot, knocking back schnapps and waiting for ABC to send the “sorry this isnt workin out... its not u its me, ur great” text message? Well, too bad, they got yanked from the evening due to awful ratings. Now it’s Shark Tank’s turn to hold down the post-Revenge real estate with repeats for a while. Let me tell you, Kevin O’Leary has some mighty harsh words for Grayson Global’s latest investment in NolCorp.